It was January 15th and I still didn't have a welcome email or anything else from Cigna. I did get a paper invoice for the bronze policy that I no longer wanted. I also got a few phone calls letting me know that I should pay for the bronze policy that I had cancelled. But no one seemed to know anything about the silver policy for which I had a paid receipt. It was time to call Gene.
I just left him a message that evening saying that the receipt didn't have any reference numbers on it, and that I would need one if I intended to call Cigna. The next day, Gene called. He had Cigna on the phone. I don't know how long he waited on hold before he conferenced me in, but we were on the phone with them for over an hour. We learned that they had a record of the bronze policy. In fact they showed that it was cancelled twice but still active. (Really? Cancelled twice? Zedrick was even dumber than I originally thought.) They had no record of the silver policy at all. The bottom line was that the information to process the silver policy and cancel the bronze policy had to come from the "marketplace", aka Healthcare.gov.
The Cigna representative was able to transfer us to someone at the marketplace. This is where I really wanted to start ripping out hair - and not my own. We established that I was the consumer and that my agent was on the phone with us and that I granted permission for them to speak with my agent. (By the way, this "permission" is only good for 14 days. What is the likelihood that this can be resolved within 14 days?)
She listened to what had happened. How I had an application for a bronze policy that I had not been able to pay for and how I decided to go with a silver policy, which I had a receipt for, but that to the best of my knowledge, no money had been charged to my credit card or been debited to my bank account.
Then she started blaming Cigna for everything that had gone wrong. She did not care about fixing the problem, she only wanted to deflect blame away from Healthcare.gov! Gene informed her certainly, but gently, that our goal was NOT to assign blame, but to fix the problem. Really hard to keep her on track with that one. She could see that there was a bronze policy. She seemed to think it had been paid. She could also see that there was a silver policy. She didn't know why the silver policy wasn't going through to Cigna. Her bottom line was that she couldn't fix anything. "We don't do that here." It was incredibly hard for me to keep my mouth shut. We were put on hold numerous times throughout the hour long phone call and I remarked to Gene (more than once) that it would be best if I remained quiet and let him do the majority of the talking. Sooo hard. She said that someone would have to call me back. I was thinking, "Noooooooo." But Gene was calmly saying that he would prefer to get it settled today and asked to speak with a supervisor.
The supervisor was polite and not quite as committed to affixing blame as the customer service rep. Gene explained that we were just trying to resolve the issue, as smoothly and efficiently as possible. When she said, "We don't do that" I couldn't help myself. "So smooth and efficient is not something you do?" Fortunately she was still talking and I don't think she heard me. And Gene took over very quickly. Damage control, I think. But it didn't matter how nice and patient we were. The bottom line was "We don't do that". "We can't fix it". What happened to "Yes, we can!"?? This would have to be escalated to someone outside the call center.
It should not be that difficult. Cancel the one I don't want and feed the one I do want through to Cigna. Why should this require escalation? When you have difficulty with a government office, you can contact your Senator or Congressional Representative for help. You think I'll get any help from Ted Cruz? Maybe John Cornyn's office could help out? I can't actually see either of them doing anything other than saying "I told you so".
The entire afternoon was wasted on the phone with these people. I hadn't had that much fun since the hogs ate my little brother.
Gene explained to her that I would not be covered as of February 1st unless they resolved the issue. He said he didn't think it was fair that their inability to resolve the issue might expose me to a fine - particularly when I'd been trying to obtain coverage since October. Like all well-trained customer service reps, she said she "understood". I don't think she did. But she did say that someone "usually" calls back within 30 days. (Seriously, it's not her department. She doesn't know that much about what goes on in her own department. I doubt she has any idea at all what goes on in other departments. She doesn't even know where they are or how to contact them outside of a government form.)
I got a call from Cigna yesterday. I was hoping it was about the silver policy, but it wasn't. They still want me to pay for the bronze. If Cigna could just sell me a policy without going through that wretched marketplace the problem would be solved. But they can't, or they won't. It doesn't matter. I'll just have to wait.
So if they can't sort it out, I will once again be uninsured on February 1st. So envious of Mark going on Medicare and not having to go through this mess. The good news is that I have American Express health insurance for when I travel. I just may have to go on the road this year.
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